This week, I'm chatting with Jeff Williams of Parallax Studios, the one-man band behind the epic graphical adventure Darkstar: The Interactive Movie. Jeff is a colorful and witty guy, with lots of fascinating insights and opinions about movies, games, and much more. Would a young George Lucas be able to get Star Wars passed the bean counters today? How about Spielberg's Jaws?

This week's Matt Chat is really something special--Scott Miller tells the exciting, spy-novel like strategy he had to use to recruit star talent John Romero, who was laboring under a contract with the militant Softdisk group. He then goes on to recount his falling out with Carmack over Rise of the Triad. But I know what you've really been waiting for--the story of The Duke! With no small emotion, Scott talks about how the character came about, why people loved Duke Nukem 3D so much (including the strippers), and how he feels about the publisher's decision to rip the game out of his hands and give it to Gearbox. Even though the game was finished (just lacking console ports), Gearbox will probably end up with the credit despite all the years of TLC put into it by Scott Miller and 3D Realms. You really don't want to miss this one.

Hi, guys, I'm back, this time with the first part of an excellent interview with Agustín Cordes, the Argentina-based designer and developer of Scratches and the forthcoming Asylum. Both games are fine examples of horror adventures, with first-person gameplay and painstaking, artistic production. Here, Agustín talks about Asylum's engine (formerly called Kinesis), as well as the design of Scratches, the state of indie gaming, and much, much more.

Gamasutra has published the transcript of my interview with Rebecca Heineman, who I interviewed on Matt Chat a few weeks ago. Even if you've already heard or seen those videos, you might still get a kick out of the introduction I wrote for it. Enjoy!

Hi, guys. This episode is the first installment of my interview with the great Scott Adams, designer and publisher of many early adventure games for home computers. He talks here about his early days as a child prodigy, programming computers and dazzling his teachers and professors with his amazing skills.

Welcome back to Matt Chat! This three-part episode features the first-ever video interview with Arnold Hendrick, the award-winning designer of Microprose's Darklands. The interview covers his background and interest in military history, the ups and downs of Darklands' developments, what it was like working with Sid Meier, and the tragic bug that robbed Darklands of its deserved financial success and sequels.

This week, I chat with Megan Gaiser (President) and Robert Riedl (Executive Producer) of Her Interactive. Hear the history of this risky but ultimately highly successful venture into the world of Nancy Drew and games for girls.

The original press release:Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, is a feature film documentary that celebrates the amazing story of videogames, focusing on the industry's most decisive moments throughout its history. Comprehensive in scope, the film covers games from all genres and platforms, from the late 1950s into modern times. Featuring interviews with industry greats such as Nolan Bushnell (Atari), John Romero (Doom), David Crane (Pitfall!), Steve Meretzky (Planetfall), Todd Howard (Fallout 3), and John Smedley (EverQuest) - plus many others - Gameplay offers an in-depth look at the industry that has redefined popular entertainment. The film explores the impact of mega-hits such as Atari's Pong, Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, as well as the role played by revolutionary technologies like the CD-ROM and the Internet. Loaded with high-quality clips from hundreds of vintage and modern games, Gameplay is a film no gamer can resist.

The film is being written and produced for Lux Digital Pictures by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, authors of Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time (Focal Press, 2009), Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games (A.K. Peters, 2008), and Wii Fitness for Dummies (Wiley, 2010). Matt and Bill are also the founders of Armchair Arcade, recognized by PC Magazine as one if its Top 100 Websites. Lux Digital Pictures has produced several recent, critically acclaimed documentaries, including Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue and American Grindhouse, which covers the history of horror and exploitation films, respectively. While Gameplay naturally touches upon controversial topics such as violence and sex in games, the overall tone is overwhelmingly positive. Lifelong, passionate gamers themselves, Barton and Loguidice are committed to ensuring accuracy, fairness, and integrity in all the topics covered in the film.

We've been getting asked quite a bit lately to reveal more information about our forthcoming feature film documentary, so I thought I would share the current promotional description making the rounds. While we're still tweaking things here and there, what follows should be pretty close to the release version of the film:

Gameplay: The Story of the Videogame Revolution, is a feature film documentary that celebrates the amazing story of videogames, focusing on the industry's most decisive moments throughout its history. Comprehensive in scope, the film covers games from all genres and platforms, from the late 1950s into modern times. Featuring interviews with industry greats such as John Romero (Doom), David Crane (Pitfall!), Steve Meretzky (Planetfall), Todd Howard (Fallout 3), and John Smedley (EverQuest) - plus many others - Gameplay offers an in-depth look at the industry that has redefined popular entertainment. The film explores the impact of mega-hits such as Atari's Pong, Nintendo's Super Mario Bros., and Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, as well as the role played by revolutionary technologies like the CD-ROM and the Internet. Loaded with high-quality clips from hundreds of vintage and modern games, Gameplay is a film no gamer can resist.

The film is being written and produced for Lux Digital Pictures by Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, authors of Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time (Focal Press, 2009), Dungeons & Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games (A.K. Peters, 2008), and Wii Fitness for Dummies (Wiley, 2010). Matt and Bill are also the founders of Armchair Arcade, recognized by PC Magazine as one if its Top 100 Websites. Lux Digital Pictures has produced several recent, critically acclaimed documentaries, including Nightmares in Red, White, and Blue and American Grindhouse, which covers the history of horror and exploitation films, respectively. While Gameplay naturally touches upon controversial topics such as violence and sex in games, the overall tone is overwhelmingly positive. Lifelong, passionate gamers themselves, Barton and Loguidice are committed to ensuring accuracy, fairness, and integrity in all the topics covered in the film.

Randolph Carter of "Reading the Text" has posted an interview with me concerning my gaming background, projects, and career. It's a good read for anyone hoping to follow in our footsteps as game book authors. :)